Abington Health employees face layoffs, reduced work hours

A round of job cuts has been announced by Abington Health affecting 80 full-time and 15 part-time employees with additional workers having their hours cut.

A total of 95 employees of the health system, which includes Abington Memorial and Lansdale hospitals, along with a network of outpatient facilities, will be laid off and an unspecified number will have their hours reduced by July 1.

The announcement was made by Abington Health President and CEO Laurence M. Merlis in a statement released June 5. The cutbacks are being attributed to declining hospital admissions and decreasing insurance reimbursements.

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“Changes in the health care environment … are numerous, the most significant being the shift in volume from inpatient care to outpatient care and declining reimbursements,” Merlis said in the statement.

The health system, with about 6,000 employees, has undertaken “a variety of initiatives to increase revenue and reduce expenses,” he said, and “while we have looked at every way to reduce hours, layoffs are unfortunately unavoidable.”

In addition to the anticipated 95 layoffs, overall work hours in some departments will be trimmed, with staff hours reduced in other departments from 80 to 75 or 72, Merlis said.

An effort will be made to eliminate positions by attrition and to place affected employees in other open positions, the statement says. Severance packages and career counseling services will be offered to those leaving.

“I recognize how difficult staffing changes can be, and I sincerely hope that each and every one affected will find a new position with promise for the future,” Merlis said.

In 2010, a similar scenario played out at Abington Health when approximately 100 full-time, part-time, relief and casual pool employees were laid off due to a decline in inpatient volume. The layoffs were of clinical, nonclinical and managerial positions at Abington Memorial and its outpatient campuses, except for Lansdale Hospital.

At that point, inpatient hospital stays had dropped by about 40 per day.

A hospital spokeswoman indicated in an email Thursday that no other information regarding the current layoffs would be forthcoming “at this time.”